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Theorizing the University Governance Role in an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

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Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Part of the book series: International Studies in Entrepreneurship ((ISEN,volume 38))

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of higher education institutions among the various programmes, community and private sector initiatives within a regional milieu and specifically an entrepreneurial ecosystem. We use data collected from a set of sixteen interviews with service providers to the entrepreneurship community in Adelaide, Australia, to construct a framework of the perceived roles and contributions of the university sector to an entrepreneurial ecosystem. The contribution of this chapter relates to its focus on what universities are expected to contribute within a regional entrepreneurial ecosystem. The findings suggest five specific roles for universities which opens a discussion around the strategic choices for university executive management in approaching regional engagement in economic development issues through contributions to entrepreneurship. We also discuss the issue of governance that arises through our analysis and the implications for place-based and regional entrepreneurial ecosystem development.

This chapter is an updated and improved version of the article which has been published in the proceedings of the ACERE (2015) conference [2015, University of Queensland].

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Entrepreneurship, Commercialization and Innovation Center, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia

    Allan O’Connor & Gerard Reed

Authors
  1. Allan O’Connor
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  2. Gerard Reed
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Allan O’Connor .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Allan O'Connor

  2. School of Economics, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Erik Stam

  3. School of Advanced Studies, University of Phoenix, Tempe, Arizona, USA

    Fiona Sussan

  4. Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

    David B. Audretsch

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O’Connor, A., Reed, G. (2018). Theorizing the University Governance Role in an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. In: O'Connor, A., Stam, E., Sussan, F., Audretsch, D. (eds) Entrepreneurial Ecosystems. International Studies in Entrepreneurship, vol 38. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63531-6_5

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